Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, and the 11 teams had agreed that this week’s pre-season running at Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya would be known as a shakedown rather than a test and that it would be held behind strictly closed doors. Normal pre-season testing, such as what will follow in Bahrain shortly, features full television, radio and other media coverage, with detailed timing results constantly available, but in Barcelona the situation was very different.

The reason for this secrecy was that, following the implementation of extensive new aerodynamic and power unit technical regulations for the new season, there was an understandable concern amongst the teams that there might be a spate of embarrassing technical failures as they got to grips with their new chargers and that more time might be spent in the pit garages than on track. The shakedown lasted from Monday to Friday, with each team allowed to run one car on three days of its own choosing, but Williams found itself under a glaring spotlight after having had to miss the event altogether as its new car simply wasn’t ready in time after development and manufacturing delays. Also, Aston Martin admitted that it wouldn’t be running until Thursday due to its own internal issues, and McLaren and Ferrari chose not to complete any laps on the opening day.

So last Monday was a strange experience, as the other teams did run, but with increasingly heavy-handed security denying any access for non-team personnel to anywhere closer to the circuit’s boundary than a few hundred metres away. As such, it was impossible to obtain any accurate details of what was happening ontrack. Unofficial lap times for drivers appeared on the internet, suggesting Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar had set the fastest time of the day, which he may have done, but this was impossible to verify, and at such an early stage in the shakedown week, the data was of limited value anyway. The absence of any officially confirmed lap times was to plague the following four days too.



At least teams were allowed to reveal some images of their new cars, with Haas kindly giving us the above eye-catching shot from the pit lane as their Toyota Gazoo Racing-backed car headed out onto the circuit. The large and resplendent GR on the upper rear sides of the car relates to its key technical partner and not yours truly!

On Tuesday morning the air temperature was 9°C, but persistent rain soon arrived, which left only Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and then Hadjar on track, with Ferrari following suit with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. The adverse weather left McLaren deciding to wait for Wednesday to Friday to run its new MCL40 with a dark temporary livery. Meanwhile, Tuesday’s action ended after Hadjar had spun backwards into the final corner barriers, causing significant damage to the rear of the new RB22, but, with spare parts in short supply at this time of year, the team had until Friday to get anything not already on site flown in for Verstappen to run again.

Both Red Bull and Ferrari opted to sit out Wednesday, but McLaren debuted its new challenger with Lando Norris behind the wheel, thrilled to be having number one on his car for the first time ever after becoming last year’s champion. Meanwhile, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli shared driving duties for Mercedes as they racked up plenty of trouble-free laps, and the young Italian teenager even completed a full race distance simulation. Amongst the others on track, Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad gained some further F1 experience, while Audi faced more technical issues with its new power unit.



Five teams were on the circuit on Thursday morning, and much later Adrian Newey’s first car designed for Aston Martin, the AMR26, made its debut on track, albeit with less than an hour of the day’s running remaining. To make matters worse, Lance Stroll was forced to stop the car out on the track after only five laps. You can only imagine owner Lawrence Stroll’s heightened sense of frustration and dissatisfaction with this undesirable scenario after so much of his personal wealth has been invested in the team.

Yesterday was the final day of the shakedown, and the security around the perimeter of the venue had been tightened even further, presumably because local hero Fernando Alonso was making his first appearance of the week for Aston Martin. Red Bull was back in action too after the team had flown in replacement parts following Hadjar’s hefty shunt on Tuesday and Verstappen resumed his duties behind the wheel. McLaren, Haas, Ferrari, Alpine, Audi and Cadillac also added to their early pre-season mileage.



In conclusion, the teams present in Barcelona generally enjoyed far less challenging early running than expected, even if the weather was less than ideal, but that’s all you can expect in northeastern Spain in January. Fortunately the conditions will be very different and much more F1-like for the two pre-season three-day tests in Bahrain from 11 to 13 and 18 to 20 February. Also, there will of course be the usual full media access again, unlike in Barcelona, and, crucially, the return of the Holy Grail of Formula 1, driver-by-driver, lap-by-lap accurate official timing data.

Bring it on. Only then will we truly start to appreciate who is quick and who isn’t prior to the opening Grand Prix of the new season in Melbourne, Australia, in early March.